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KOLA PASSES MARITZBURG TRIALS

SOCCER – FORMER Mbabane Swallows and Manzini Wanderers forward Kola Aledeon has impressed at ABSA Premiership side Maritzburg United where he was undergoing trials.

The player started training with the KwaZulu-Natal based outfit on Tuesday this week after his three-month contract with Mbabane Swallows expired after the ‘Birds’ exit in the CAF Champions League.

According to a source from South Africa, Kola appears to have won the favour of coach Fadlu Davids on his evaluation during his three-day trial. "Kola started training with the team on Tuesday and by the look of things, he might join the PSL outfit. He has done well during his trials and the team look set to sign him."

The source said the player scored two goals during his brief trial and the technical team is happy with his performance.

“He played for the first team where he displayed a high level of fitness. He has an eye for goal and I can tell you now that he is definitely joining Maritzburg.”

The source said the team would finalise everything in the next two weeks since they had already exhausted their foreign quota.

“I understand he is not contracted to any teams in Eswatini and that will even make things easier for the player to be registered even though registration is now closed,” said the source. Sought for comment on the matter, the player’s representative Charles Matsebula did not want to entertain questions as he only said the player was still under assessment with Maritzburg.

“All I can say is that the player is doing trials with Maritzburg and we are still waiting for feedback from Maritzburg,” he said briefly.

If the move materialises, Kola will join former Manzini Sundowns star Justice Figuareido.

The Nigeria-born forward made waves across the continent and beyond after scoring two goals. His goal scored in the 1-2 loss to Club Desportivo in the final Group D match was rated in the top five goals of the round by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Tunisian giants Club African, who feature prominently in Africa’s premier club competition, Young African from Tanzania are among the teams that have shown interest in the player as well.